Euregio Science Fund 1st call

The first call for the Euregio Fund for Scientific Research was published on Monday, December 29, 2014, on the homepage of the Euroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino, which, with an amount of one million euro, aims to primarily support multi-year joint projects involving all three Euregional territories, regardless of their specific matter. "Over the course of the year, Euregio has strived to create the possibility to encourage inter-regional research projects. Through this first call for the Euregio Fund for Scientific Research, we intend to support the best projects and the best minds in order to further promote cohesion at the scientific level between Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino," said with satisfaction Günther Platter, captain of Land Tyrol and President of the Euregio (Oct 2013-Oct 2015).

In the course of the competition, the Euregio will was supported by the leading Austrian Fund for the Promotion of Scientific Research (FWF), which will be entrusted with the evaluation of the applications and the carrying out of those parts of programs related to Tyrol. "By working together with the FWF, the Euregio follows the positive experiences already made in respect to Tyrol’s new Scientific Research Fund", said Bernhard Tilg, Tyrolean Councilor for Research.

The first call for the Euregio Scientific Research Fund was open to all research institutions in Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino, whose scientists plan to carry out a joint project in the field of basic research. These are, therefore, joint research projects that have a common objective and need to be realized together. The expected duration is between two and three years, the amount ranges from a minimum of 250,000 to a maximum of 500,000 euros. T

The funded projects were individualized by the Euregio Scientific Committee in accordance to the international evaluation by FWF. The main criterion consisted of the project’s scientific level, so as to promote only excellent, or at least very good, projects. Where several projects were characterized by the same scientific quality (excellent / very good), priority was given to those projects involving all three territories, Tyrol, South Tyrol and Trentino. Finally, the call provided that at least one among the promoted projects refers, respectively, to the field of natural sciences, technology, medicine and the humanities, social and legal, provided they meet the standards of scientific evaluation.

The funding decicion was taken by the Board of the EGTC on November 2nd 2015. The projects will start in the first months of the year 2016.